Free Small Business Marketing Tips

Our expert offers free small business marketing tips including a creative way to stand-out-from-the crowd, advice on whether to refresh a brand, and how to build celebrity status out of nothing.

Every week we tap into free small business marketing tips to help you grow you business. Our favorite maverick marketer looks at new ways to help you stand out from the crowd with some wild shopping bags that really catch the eye and the imagination. Plus, he offers up advice on refreshing a brand. Is it a good idea or not?

If you've got a drawer full of aging cell phones, we've got a handy resource that'll empty the drawer and fatten your wallet. And give a good listen to the big-brand marketing lesson and see if you can incorporate some of those tips into your own business.

Finally, get ready to learn a new word: Vook. While this small business marketing tool isn’t free, it's very cheap and likely to pay back nifty dividends. Go ahead and click on the video link below to watch the episode.

I’m always on the lookout for examples of creative marketing (hint, hint) and viewer Waka Shinko sent me some great examples of creative shopping bags that promote all kinds of businesses. I’ll show you these in this episode, and please let me know what you think of them.

I’m proud to announce that I have a new Vook! What’s a Vook, you ask? It’s a combination of a book and a video, hence “Vook.” It’s a new format designed for the iPad, iPod Touch and iPhone, and it’s a great new way to consume information. The Vook that I’ve created for you is based around the theme of this show, “Help! My Business Sucks!” It includes 12 chapters (and videos) to help small business owners with their marketing. It’s all new information, and it’s just $6.99 from the Apple iTunes store. Let me know what you think of it, please.

Is it appropriate to rebrand a business from time to time? That’s the subject we discuss in this week’s viewer question. I have strong feelings on this one; can you guess what they are?

Finally, our big marketing lesson is from Hyman’s Seafood restaurant in Charleston, South Carolina. Here’s a fascinating study in the power of creating celebrity. Hyman’s has gone to great lengths to position the restaurant as having celebrity status, and it’s working. I’ll show you how you can transform your business in a similar way.

As usual, let me know your opinion about the topics covered in the show to help your small business this week -- leave your comment below, it’s really easy to do.

Andrew Lock is a self-described maverick marketer and the creator and host of Help! My Business Sucks, a free, weekly Web TV show full of practical small business marketing tips, advice and resources to help small businesses "get more done and have more fun."